


Getting To Know You (Again)

by rainbowchristy



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Amnesia, Car Accidents, Getting Together, Hospitals, Live Shows (Phandom), M/M, Memory Loss, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2020-12-16 19:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21041432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowchristy/pseuds/rainbowchristy
Summary: Anonymous Tumblr Prompt: an amnesia fic in which both of them loose their memories and don't remember each other and other people try to make them understand how important they are to each other which results in a "getting to know you all over again" kind of thing.





	Getting To Know You (Again)

When he awoke, he felt different. Something was off but he wasn’t able to pinpoint what. Blearily opening his eyes, he realised he had no recollection of where he was or how he ended up there. All he knew was that there was an irritating beep that rang in his ears and a blinding light that made him wish for sleep.

He forced his eyes open and was met with a clinically white room that stung his retinas. The beeping appeared coming from one of the many machines next to him. Looking down at his body, there were pads attached to cords and a hospital robe that covered his body.

He tried to remember how he’d arrived at his destination but he couldn’t seem to think of anything. He couldn’t remember much at all actually.

“Oh good; you’re awake. How are you feeling?” a man wearing a light blue coat asked. He looked friendly and was carrying a clipboard and pen as if ready to write down what he said.

“Alright. Where am I?” he asked in return, very much confused.

“We will get to that. Firstly, can you remember anything from before you woke up?”

“Umm,” he tried to think but couldn’t. He struggled to remember anything. “Not really, no.”

“I’ll ask a basic question. What’s your name and age?” he said, scribbling something down that was likely in illegible doctor’s writing before flipping the page.

“I-I don’t know,” he admitted, feeling defeated. He should remember these things. He had been whatever his name was all his life. Why couldn’t he remember?

“Judging by your performance, you have quite severe retrograde amnesia. Do you know what that is?” He nodded, not being able to form words due to the fear and confusion coursing through his body along with whatever was in the drip he was attached to. “Okay, your name is Daniel James Howell and you are twenty-six. Your mother is just outside. I’m going to bring her in and she will explain what happened to you before you ended up here. Okay?”

“Umm, what’s her name?”

“Your mother’s? Her name is Celia.” The doctor left with a solemn smile and a few seconds later, a woman entered. He didn’t recognise her but she looked caring. Her eyes were red-rimmed which hinted to Dan that she’d been crying recently.

“Oh, Sweetie! I’m so glad you're okay.” She moved forward to hug him tightly which Dan assumed he should accept, so he did.

“Hi,” he said before quickly adding, “Mum.”

“I was told to explain to you what happened. You and Phil were on a bus, going to see Hamilton but the bus was hit. The other car, which was travelling way over the speed limit and ran a red light, hit the middle of the bus where you and Phil were sitting. You both hit your heads really hard. You’ve both been out in a coma for about a week but you finally wake. Phil is still asleep but doctors say he should wake up within a couple of days,” she explained, clearly trying to hold in the tears that were brewing in her eyes.

“Oh,” was all he said. What else could he say in response to hearing all that? “Um, who’s Phil?” he asked, bewildered. The utter shock on his mother’s face showed this “Phil” was someone he was clearly supposed to know and remember.

“Uh,” She breathed out, shocked before turning and exiting the room without another word. She entered again a few minutes later with the same doctor from earlier. “Why can’t he remember anything?” She barked at the doctor, sudden anger taking hold.

“We believe he may be suffering from a form of retrograde amnesia as a result of the head trauma. He couldn’t remember who you were or even his own name.”

“But he doesn’t even remember Phil! They’re best friends and have lived together for years!” she argued.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. His head took a heavy blow and we knew he suffered brain damage. We just weren’t sure of the extent,” the doctor explained calmly.

“What’s going on?” Dan suddenly demanded, fed up with not having answers to his hundreds of questions.

“Phil’s your best friend. You live together and have done for eight years,” his mother explained. Dan tried to process this - as well as all the other - information.

~~~~

Dan was discharged two days later to go back to a home he didn’t recognise and a life he didn’t remember. According to his mother, he was a youtuber along with Phil and they both had a large fanbase and loyal followers.

The first night in his new home that wasn’t all that new was a strange experience. To be fair, he had nothing to compare it to. He couldn’t remember any of the places he had lived in the past so everything he did was a new experience. The time from when he got home to when Phil arrived was only a few days but it seemed to last forever. Forgetting everything, including hobbies and anything else he used to fill free time with, was an obscure feeling, to say the least.

He found himself spending hours just lounging on the couch. His mother had said he should try and film and edit a video to see if it brought back any memories. The doctor had also informed him that completing familiar tasks may help bring at least a few memories back. Though nothing he did worked as of yet. He played video games and even the piano in his room which he apparently loved but nothing brought back the memories that were so important.

Being told all these things about his life was strange since usually, people tell others what they did during their free time and what their favourite activities were. However, this time, the roles had been revered.

Phil was released two days after Dan had and their introduction was anything but normal. Both men were tense when their parents told them about their lives together and it seemed that the only comfort they found in each other was that they were in the same boat; neither remembering anything about themselves or others.

Phil seemed to be familiar with his mother, father and brother though he could easily be acting to soften the blow of the amnesia. Either way, without knowing much, Dan decided he liked Phil. He seemed like a kind person who had other’s best interests in his mind.

“Hey. So you’re Dan?” he asked curiously, stretching out his hand to shake. Dan grabbed his hand and shook back, nodding.

“You must be Phil. Apparently we’re best friends?” he said, looking towards his mother who nodded confirmation.

“Yes, and you two live together. Martin had the idea that you two should sit together and watch over a bunch of your youtube videos and your stage show as a way of hopefully jogging your memories. How does that sound?” Phil’s mother suggested. The two men shrugged their shoulders, not really having any idea what to expect.

Both their families seemed to really want the old Dan and Phil back and they desired their memories too but it wasn’t like they knew what they were missing out on. Their families were connected to their old selves and neither was sure they could ever get back to those people. Dan and Phil after the accident were entirely different people to before and they didn’t want to disappoint their families, but they weren’t really given a choice in what they remembered.

~~~~

They were seated on the couch and watching the stage show that the two were stars of. It was strange for both men to watch themselves move about the stage in front of a large audience when they had no recollection of it.

“How much do you remember?” Dan asked quietly after pausing the show.

“Um, I remember a little bit. I remember my parents and Martin but I don’t remember you, our careers or anything else. All I remember is my family. I have no idea who you are and I definitely don’t remember performing anything in front of a crowd as large as this. The largest crowd I’ve performed in front of was my year eight class for public speaking,” he answered, forcing a joke to try and lighten the heavy atmosphere of their apartment.

“I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember you, mum, dad, Adrian. I don’t remember any of it. I don’t even remember me,” he replied, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

“Dan, it’s okay. I know we don’t know each other all that well but we used to. Lets just keep watching this and maybe you’ll remember something.” And so they continued watching their videos, both laughing considerably at the dance number towards the end of the show. Though no memories returned, they felt they had definitely gained something out of watching the film, even if it was only a small glimpse into their old lives.

Dan and Phil were lying on the couch with their phones, trying to update the infinite number of friends they seemed to have. Lots of messages came in from all their friends and they had to act to the best of their abilities as if they remembered them.

When one of their friends, Louise, recommended they update twitter so their fans knew they were okay, they realise how many people actually cared about their lives.

Later that night, Dan tweeted:  _ ‘Phil and I are back! I’m not sure how many videos you’ll be getting as we are both quite busy but we just wanted to let you know we’re both safe.’ _ He hoped it said everything they needed it to.

Phil suggested they check tumblr as a way of getting more ideas of who they were. According to both their internet histories, they frequented the website and apparently so did many of their fans. After only a few minutes of searching, Dan found something.

“I, uh, I think I found something,” he stated, turning the laptop for Phil to see. On the screen was a picture of the two of them holding hands and sitting on a bench, Dan’s head rested on Phil’s shoulder. “That’s not the only one.” He warned before scrolling and revealing heaps of drawings, all of which involved them in a romantic setting.

“Are we- I mean, were we dating?” Phil questioned despite knowing Dan didn’t know the answer.

“I think so,” he continued. It was then that Phil’s phone buzzed and he picked it up.

“It’s from Martin. Apparently, I usually to do a live show tonight. Did you, um, would you like to join me? Martin said it might be nice for the fans if we did it together if we were up for it,” Phil explained.

“I’d love that,” Dan smiled. They set up the computer and signed into YouNow which was, according to Phil’s brother, where they livestreamed from.

“Hey guys,” Phil said, slightly yelling, into the laptop. Comments came pouring in asking them how they were going and what had happened. Dan, feeling like he needed the support and guessing it would be fine since they had been, and possibly are, dating, looped his hand with Phil’s. Phil looked sideways at him and smiled, squeezing his hand a little for comfort.

After explaining to everyone what had happened, or to the best of their abilities since they still weren’t entirely sure themselves, they moved on to read other questions.

“So, like, we’ve only been home one day. I was released from hospital a few days beforehand but Phil was only released yesterday. We were watching our stage show earlier today which- Agh!” He was cut off by the laptop almost falling when he tried to shuffled his legs into a more comfortable position.

The comments which had somewhat died down suddenly skyrocketed. They all read similar things along the lines of ‘Oh my god’ and ‘What the fuck?!’ Dan and Phil looked at each other, confused.

“What?” they decided to finally ask their audience who seemed to be freaking out over something. “What’s going on?” Dan asked again, getting annoyed when everyone continued to freak out rather than give them answers.

‘You’re holding hands!’ one comment said but Dan and Phil couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Maybe their fans were homophobic? Though when he thought about it, he doubted they were considering the amount of art that depicted the two of them in a relationship.

They quickly gave up on trying to understand the comments and moved on though everyone seemed to stay focussed on the one event for the rest of the stream.

“Why was everyone freaking out about us holding hands?” Phil questioned once the live show ended. They were both in the kitchen cooking dinner which is something they miraculously remembered how to do. Dan had cut his finger while chopping the vegetables but even professional chefs could do that from time to time.

“I’m not sure. I think it’s best to just ignore it. Maybe you should call Martin? See if he knows anything,” Dan suggested, watching as Phil agreed.

~~~~

“According to him, we were dating before the accident. It was a secret but lots of our fans “shipped” us. That means lots of people wanted us to be in a relationship, by the way, so they drew art and wrote stories and stuff that was of us together. Apparently they freaked about us holding hands because it “confirmed” we were dating or something. I’m not really sure,” Phil explained after his phone call with Martin.

“That-that doesn’t even make any sense. I don’t really care though. Everyone seems really happy so I’m not sure what our past selves were worried about. Are you worried?” Dan asked, realising Phil might not be all that comfortable with the stream’s events.

“Not really. You’re right, everyone seems really happy. Our friends will probably call us later on and congratulate us; either for coming out or being in a relationship in the first place. I’m not sure what we’ve told them.” Phil explained.

“Me either. I don’t care, though. I’m just glad everyone’s supportive. And even if they weren’t, we have each other. We still don’t know each other all that well yet and we only met again yesterday but I’m looking forward to getting to know you... again,” Dan smiled, giggling before hugging Phil.

Pulling away after a few seconds, Phil grinned. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. I'm not planning on writing more of this but if people like it and want another chapter, maybe I will.
> 
> Let me know what you think. I'm always looking for advice on how to improve.


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